Monday, September 24, 2007

Gould to be executive director of VSB

Karen A. Gould, the immediate past president of the Virginia State Bar, will succeed Thomas A. Edmonds as executive director of the agency.

The appointment is not yet official because the VSB Council must act on it at its October meeting, and the Supreme Court of Virginia must approve the council’s recommendation.

However, Gould was recommended Friday by a committee that searched for almost a year for Edmonds’ replacement. The chairman of the committee, former VSB President Phillip V. Anderson of Roanoke, said in a letter to past presidents of the agency, “The Supreme Court has been kept advised of the process along the way and has given its support to the process and has agreed to accept the Council’s recommendation.”

The committee was prepared to recommend a replacement in March, but the leading candidate withdrew at the last minute to accept another offer in the private sector.

The committee decided to start over and, in addition to readvertising for the post, decided that committee members should approach candidates they knew personally and believed could perform the job. Gould, who had been an ex officio member of the search committee, was one of those approached. She then immediately withdrew from further participation in the committee other than as a candidate.

After two rounds of interviews, Gould was the unanimous choice of the committee on the first ballot, Anderson said.

“I look at this as an opportunity to do a job that I feel very passionate about,” Gould said.

Edmonds, 69, is retiring at the end of the year after 18 years as the chief administrative officer for VSB.